Abkhazi archives: Curious lives, harmonious gardens

A new digital exhibit on the UVic Libraries website offers a glimpse into the fascinating lives of Peggy and Nicholas Abkhazi and the local garden that blossomed under their care. The exhibit includes selections from the Abkhazi Archives held in the University of Victoria Archives.

The material relates to the interwar period, World War II and the design and creation of the Abkhazi’s internationally renowned rhododendron garden on Fairfield Road, now owned by The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC).

Peggy (Marjorie) Pemberton-Carter was born in Shanghai in 1902. She travelled extensively and met Nicholas Abkhazi in Paris in the 1920s. Nicholas, a member of the Georgian nobility, was born in Georgia in 1899. Circumstances separated them, and Peggy returned to Shanghai and was interned by the Japanese from 1943–45. Nicholas was also interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.

They reunited in New York, were married in Victoria in 1946, and immediately began planning their famous modern home and garden on a rocky outcrop of land. Nicholas died in 1987 and Peggy in 1994. The Fairfield Road property is an outstanding example of the West Coast style and was purchased by TLC in 1999.

The online exhibit includes Peggy Abkhazi’s prison camp diary and accompanying watercolour illustrations; photo albums of her early travels, garden and home construction; and other material relating to the design and development of their property. Abkhazi digital exhibit: http://library.uvic.ca/site/lib/dig/abkhazi.html